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Multiple-Meaning Words

A multiple-meaning word is spelled and said the same way but means different things: a bat flies at night, and you hit a ball with a bat. Context is the only clue, which is why these words are such good reading practice.

Here are 124 multiple-meaning words from past ClueBy puzzles, each with a real example sentence for every meaning. Use them as a reference, or make a printable worksheet below.

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Students read each sentence and write the missing word. Every word appears in several sentences, each time with a different meaning.

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Multiple-Meaning Words

Name: ____________________Date: __________

Write the missing word in each sentence. Each word is used more than once, with a different meaning each time.

  1. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  2. Take your time. There's no ________________.
  3. He was locked up in a ________________.
  4. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  5. Have you settled on a ________________?
  6. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  7. Why do cosmetics have an expiration ________________?
  8. That must've been a ________________.
  9. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  10. Remember our ________________: no talking to strangers, no matter what.
  11. A ________________ is a sweet brown fruit from a palm tree.
  12. You shouldn't ________________ things.
  13. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  14. The ________________ market has crashed.
  15. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  16. When are we going to ________________?
  17. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  18. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  19. How do you ________________ your surname?
  20. The chairman did not ________________ out the possibility of a disagreement.
  21. Will civil ________________ and democracy continue in Algeria?
  22. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  23. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  24. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.

Sentences from ClueBy, Tatoeba (CC BY 2.0 FR) and Common Voice (CC0). clueby.com

Answer key

  1. land — a country
  2. rush — hurry
  3. cell — in a prison
  4. cell — in biology
  5. date — on the calendar
  6. file — a tool
  7. date — on the calendar
  8. rush — a thrill
  9. cell — a phone
  10. rule — a law
  11. date — the fruit
  12. rush — to hurry
  13. land — ground
  14. stock — shares
  15. stock — a soup base
  16. land — to come down
  17. file — a line of people
  18. file — a document
  19. spell — letters
  20. rule — to rule out
  21. rule — government
  22. spell — a short time
  23. spell — magic
  24. stock — goods

Multiple-meaning words list

Tick up to 10 words to build a worksheet with just those words.

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Frequently asked questions

What are multiple-meaning words?

Words with the same spelling and pronunciation but more than one meaning, like bark (of a dog or of a tree) or bank (for money or of a river). You can only tell which meaning is meant from the rest of the sentence.

Are multiple-meaning words the same as homonyms?

Mostly, yes. Teachers often use "multiple-meaning words" and "homonyms" for the same idea. Homophones are different: they sound alike but are spelled differently, like flour and flower.

Are the worksheets free?

Yes. Make and print as many as you like for home or classroom use. Each sheet has its own link, so you can print the same one again.

Where do the words come from?

From past ClueBy puzzles, a daily game where you sort twelve sentences by their missing word. A new puzzle every day adds four more words to this list.

Sentences from ClueBy, Tatoeba (CC BY 2.0 FR) and Common Voice (CC0). clueby.com